Dover teachers and students in second, third and fourth grades hosted their annual Thanksgiving Feast last week in the Dover Elementary cafeteria.

The Thanksgiving Feast offers students a creative opportunity to test functional and practical skills learned this quarter during classroom instruction. Students have been learning to read and understand menus, maps, calendars, recipes, news articles and schedules.

“Finding creative ways to teach a child how to read recipes, quantify and follow instructions is always a challenge and the Thanksgiving Feast is a great way to combine practical learning with fun,” third-grade teacher Lisa Collins said.

Approximately 275 students from 13 classrooms prepared a dish in their classrooms to share with the student body. The students worked with their individual teachers in small groups reading the directions, measuring the ingredients and cooking the food.

“Aside from the learning aspect, children also gain a positive life experience by using cooking utensils and being exposed to additional cooking terms, like straining and melting,” third-grade teacher Laura Fields said.

Fields has been helping with the feast for eight years and is always amazed at the amount of students in her class that have never helped prepare a meal, or even been exposed to how to read and follow recipes.

“The students really have a great time cooking and watching a child use a potato peeler for the first time is always exciting for me,” Fields said. “I really hope cooking for the Thanksgiving feast encourages the children to volunteer to help more at home.”

Third-grade teachers added an additional learning component this year by asking students to bring a favorite recipe from home to be included in a third-grade cookbook for parents.

The annual feast exposes children to foods they might not otherwise eat at home and because they cook the food themselves, they are usually willing to sample the new foods.

“Last year my kids were adamant they would not eat cranberry sauce, but because we made it from scratch with real berries and orange juice, they actually liked it and said they would ask their parents to include it in their holiday meals,” Collins said with a smile. “There are always students who have never tasted sweet potatoes and other foods that leave the feast eager to share their new favorites with their parents.”

Second-grade teacher Lori Stokes is a new teacher to the Dover School District and has been impressed with the dedication of the school to provide students with real-world opportunities to learn reading and math skills.

“My students have been excited for weeks about the Thanksgiving feast and I love the excitement they’ve shown for measuring and reading directions for our recipe,” Stokes said. “I’m sure my classroom will be doing more hands-on experiments in the future.”

The Thanksgiving feast is also an opportunity for parents to volunteer at school and see their children learning first-hand. Two parents from each class are needed to help serve at the feast and parents are invited to help with food preparation in classrooms.

“I try to help throughout the year and the Thanksgiving feast is one of my favorite traditions, because I get to see the excitement on their faces over a job well done,” Second-grade parent Linda Kirshberger said.